Michael_Elliott The Thirsty Dead (1974) * (out of 4)Women are being abducted in the streets and forced to a strange cult that needs their blood in order to stay young. One of the kidnapped women, Laura (Jennifer Billingsley), is offered a chance to join the cult but she is horrified to think someone would kill another human for their own gain. Pretty soon she decides to fight back against this cult and their evil ways.The Philippines made some really crazy movies back during the drive-in era and this here is without question one of the strangest. Those looking for some sort of zombie movie or a blood-soaked horror picture are going to be disappointed because there's really not too much bite to this picture no matter how much the advertising wants to make you believe. In fact, this here was really one of the tamest and lamest films I've seen from them, which is too bad because the story here isn't all that bad.The idea of a cult kidnapping women for their blood could have been exploitation heaven but sadly very little is done with it. There's no major nudity. There's no major gore. There's really nothing here too exploitative except for the idea brought up in the story but like I said there's nothing graphic done with it. That would be okay if the drama of the story was compelling but it isn't. The story is bland the movie is told in such a slow and dry way that I'm sure most viewers will be turning it off well before the final credits.The scenery was terrific and some of the actors were fun including Billingsley. Still, when you're dealing with a film like this you certainly expect much more and as it stands there's just nothing in THE THIRSTY DEAD that will hold your interest.

soulexpress A PG-rated horror film is unlikely to satisfy a fan of the genre-- especially if it's pretentiously written, poorly acted, and has costumes and sets that look deeply unnatural.The plot involves the abduction of four young women off the streets of Manila. They are brought by boat to the jungle home of a cult that worships a talking severed head in a glass jar filled with red liquid. I think the head's name is Raul, but it was hard to make out. And I wasn't about to watch a moment of this thing twice!The cult needs the blood of young women to make an elixir that keeps them eternally young. There's a catch, though: the "blood donors" soon lose their youth and beauty, and are kept imprisoned in a rat- filled cave. Long story short, the women escape the cult with the help of its high priest, Baru, who looks like Sergio Franchi and wears a cape a la Dr. Strange. However, when Baru crosses the "Ring of Age," he gets old quickly. I don't mean he's boring--I mean, he literally gets old quickly and dies.Its low-budget look offers the perfect opportunity for camp, but the film is played completely straight. There's no action to speak of, the pacing is glacial, the cave mock-ups are clearly paper mache, the dialogue does not sound like natural speech, the acting is at grade-school-play level, and the score features the same few pieces over and over again.The so-called "special" effects include a leaf that magically closes wounds, the cutting of a woman's neck for blood to make the elixir, the cult's head-in-a-box deity, and Baru's not-rapid-enough aging. Aside from beautiful, scantily-clad young women in bikinis, there's nothing to recommend THE THIRSTY DEAD to anyone except hardcore fans of this bilge water.

BA_Harrison Shot in the Philippines, Z-grade horror The Thirsty Dead opens with voluptuous go-go dancer Claire (Judith McConnell) gyrating wildly in a cage as drunken sailors ogle admiringly. Shortly after her entertaining routine, the woman is abducted by hooded assailants, and the film goes rapidly downhill from thereon in.Together with three other women—blonde beauty Ann (Fredricka Meyers), Filipino cutie Bonnie (Chiqui da Rosa), and Laura (Jennifer Billingsley), who ain't so attractive—Claire is transported to the remote jungle headquarters of a strange cult who drink a potion consisting of human blood and leaves that keeps them eternally young. Imprisoned in a papier-mâché cave, the girls are forced to wear sexy bikinis and are drugged for the bleeding ritual, all except for Laura, who is given the opportunity to enjoy immortality thanks to her resemblance to a painting by cult member Baru (John Considine). However, Laura isn't wild on the idea of eternity in a cave and refuses to drink the potion; together with the other three girls, she makes a bid for freedom.As attractive as Claire, Ann and Bonnie are in their skimpy get-ups, The Thirsty Dead is still extremely hard going, a dreadfully sluggish pace, boring dialogue, a distinct lack of action, wooden performances, and lousy production values all taking their toll on the viewer. Not-so-special effects include the slicing of one of the girl's neck with a knife and the subsequent healing of the wound using a special leaf, a disembodied living head in a glass box (around which bucktoothed cult priestess Ranu, played by Tani Guthrie, does a tribal dance), and the rapid ageing of Baru as he goes beyond the cult's 'Ring of Age' in a bid to help the women escape (after a surprising change of heart).

artpf Beautiful young girls are kidnapped off the streets of Manila by a death cult that needs their blood to remain immortal.Apparently, back in the 70's the dark streets of Manilla were littered with hot blonde white chicks. They get captured by crimson hooded guys and offer no resistance whatsoever.The movie is fairly typical of these Philippine 70's films. Dark, little real action and the same music over and over, all filmed on grainy high speed over saturated 35 mm.There was a documentary made about these movies recently and apparently, there was little safety on the sets and sometimes stunt men died! I guess Marcos made it very advantageous to make movies here back then because so many cheapo horror/girls in prison films were made there.This movie follows the same format and if you are a fan of the genre because the films are so bad, you'll probably like it. It's a fun midnight movie to laff at.